International Women’s Day 2016 - Value Women’s Work!

05 April 2016 08:41

"We are convinced that trade unions can organise women into trade
unions, promote women to leadership positions and empower women to fight
for a gender fair society where the work of women and men are equally
valued," says Ambet Yuson, general secretary of the BWI.

Women’s work is highly undervalued around the globe. Millions of women
live in extreme poverty and women make up the majority of the world’s
working poor. Women face discrimination in the workplace when women and
men are not paid the same wages although they carry out the same work or
work of equal value.

In addition, women often have limited possibilities to develop their
careers and few women can be seen in leadership positions. Women who
work in the male dominated construction and wood sectors face serious
challenges such as sexual harassment, wage discrimination and higher
unemployment than their male colleagues.

Around the world the work women do is systematically undervalued – they
earn less than their male colleagues and are often employed under more
precarious forms. Furthermore, women are also discriminated within their
own unions. The BWI therefore launches the global Value Women’s
Work-campaign. See Women Almanac here

The campaign brings together women within BWI to advocate for greater
gender equality through ensuring fair value for women’s work, at the
work site, at home, and within the union.

We celebrate the 2016 International Women’s Day by calling on trade
unions to organise women workers and empower and promote women in
leadership positions. The proposed theme for this year’s International
Women’s Day mobilization is “Empowering women to become leaders - Unions
Make a Difference”.

Women make up a large proportion of the workforce in in BWI sectors and
many are active both in the trade unions and in their communities. This
year, the BWI launches the BWI Women’s Almanac which presents 12 women
trade union leaders in BWI sectors around the world.

The BWI calls on its affiliates to:

Increase their women membership

Empower women to be more active in their trade union structures and take leadership positions

Include women in collective bargaining teams so they can ensure equal value of men’s and women’s work in collective bargaining agreements.